Schalke's remarkable turnaround season reached a new peak on Sunday as the club was crowned champions of Germany's second division, just 24 hours after securing their long-awaited return to the Bundesliga.

The Royal Blues had already punched their ticket back to the top flight on Saturday with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Fortuna Düsseldorf, ending a three-year exile from Germany's elite league. But the celebrations got even sweeter when results elsewhere confirmed they would finish top of the table.

Paderborn, sitting second before the weekend, suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat at Elversberg, leaving them nine points adrift of Schalke. Meanwhile, third-placed Hannover could only manage a dramatic 3-3 draw against bottom-dwelling Preußen Münster, allowing Elversberg to leapfrog into second place.

With just two matches remaining, Schalke's 67-point lead over Elversberg (59 points) is insurmountable, meaning the Gelsenkirchen club can afford to lose their final games against Nuremberg and Eintracht Braunschweig and still claim the title.

The promotion race is now heating up behind them. The top two teams earn automatic promotion, while the third-placed side faces a two-legged playoff against the Bundesliga's third-from-bottom team for the final spot in Germany's top division. Elversberg currently holds the advantage for that second automatic spot, but Hannover and Paderborn—both on 58 points—are lurking closely behind, with goal difference separating them.